Mass Effect 3: Time Warp
by Fulliron
Summary: After a freak earthquake, my friend and I are transported to Vancouver at the start of the Reaper assault on Earth. With little chance at survival, we decide to go with our best hope; we decide to join Commander Shepard. Self-insert, though I'm a little older in this than I am in real life. BioWare/EA own all.
1. Prologue: Earth

June 10, 2013

I was sleeping in for once, savoring the beginning of summer and the end of school. All of that was interrupted when my phone rang, jarring me from my light sleep. I answered the phone. Turned out, my friend was _finally _ done with the Mass Effect Trilogy and was ready to return it to me for his copy of MW3. I groaned, got (or rather, fell) out of bed, and pulled on some clothes. I walked out of the house and jogged the short distance to my friend's house. Once we had given each other's games back, I turned around to get back home.

However, Nature had other plans

As I strolled back up to my house, a gust of hot, dry wind slashed through the cool air. Almost immediately after, a faint tremor ran through the ground. However, instead of abating it gained strength, ramping up enough to knock people off of their feet. My friend ran up to me with a bag slung over his back. "What the hell are we going to do?" he asked me.

"I don't know," I replied. " Hey, what's in the bag?"

"Um, my… Xbox stuff and my laptop," he admitted sheepishly.

"Jeez, Alan, leave it to you to grab the _ least _useful stuff in an emergency!"

"Well I'm sorry, Rob! It was already in my bag. Do you expect me to unpack my bag and repack it during an emergency?"

"Ugh. You're –"

Suddenly the ground beneath us cracked open. We both tumbled into the resulting hole, and in a flash of light, the scenery changed.

March 3, 2185

I woke up on a metal deck with something that felt like a very large dog on my chest. Seeing that it was Alan, I stood up and looked around at our surroundings, We in a city that looked like it had been bombarded by huge bombs. The city looked strangely familiar…

Behind me, my friend groaned as he climbed to his feet. "Where the hell are we?" he demanded groggily.

" How the hell should I know? I only woke up a minute ago!" came my snappish reply.

A large explosion interrupted our argument. Turning around, we both gasped, "Reaper!" at the same moment. However, further comments were cut off as the deck we were standing on collapsed. Two men slid past us, one in a military dress uniform, the other in more casual attire. Both were bloodied up, though not badly.

When the slide from hell stopped, the two men walked over and helped us up. Only then did I realize that the man who wasn't in his dress uniform looked very similar to my version of Commander Shepard. The other guy looked like Anderson, which meant that-

"Aw, shit. This is the Reaper invasion, right?"

Shepard looked surprised, with a healthy dose of suspicion thrown in for good measure. "How the hell does a civilian know about the Reapers?"

"Not exactly classified. Just hard to believe. Plus, I've played through this a half dozen times already." I shot back. Seeing his confused expression deepen, I added, "I'll explain later. For now, let's just get to the _Normandy_, okay?

"Let's? Why would I let you onto a military vessel?"

_Because I can tell you exactly how this all turns out_, I wanted to say. Instead, I replied, "You're gonna need all the help you can get. Plus, do you really think the evac shuttles are gonna make it against frakking Reapers? I certainly don't think so."

"Ugh. Fine. You can tag along. Hell, you two look old enough to do Basic. Maybe, with some training, you two can join the shipboard marine detail. IF we get out of this alive, that is."

"Thanks."

"Now come on. We gotta get out of here."

The rest of the walk to the _Normandy _passed exactly as it had in the game. Alan and I cowered behind cover as Shepard and Anderson tore through waves of Cannibals. I had a pistol that I had been given by a wounded soldier, but without kinetic barriers, I was just gonna get killed. The only surprising thing was that, when we got to the Normandy, _both _Kaidan _and_ Ashley were waiting for us in the hold, with James close behind. I shook my head, then went to stand next to Shepard as the Alliance evac shuttles were destroyed. Shepard seemed even more distraught than he had in the game

"You will come back here, and you will avenge them," I said.

"Why should I believe you, kid? What do you know about the Reapers?"

"Hey, I ain't no kid. I'm eighteen years old! And to answer your question, call it a gut feeling"

"Still. I-. I'll talk to you later. When we're at the Citadel and I've had more time to process the attack."

"Okay," I said. Turning around, I saw that Alan had just curled up on the ground near a shuttle. "Hey," I said.

"Everyone's gone," he replied.

"Yeah, but at least we aren't," I said, trying to make light of the situation. "Bros to the end, right?"

This stirred something in him."Huh," he said, frowning. "Everyone in our lives is gone, and you just make a boneheaded comment on how 'We're still alive,' and all that shit. I don't think this is the time!" he roared as he threw a punch.

Now, when I fight, some people say that streaks of blue lightning run up and down my body. However, they usually are joking around, so I pay the comments no mind. Those same people also say that I strike much harder than I should be able to, and when they say this, they aren't kidding. So when Alan came charging at me, I just sidestepped and slammed my fist into his chest.

Of course, he had to go flying into Kaidan.

As soon as Kaidan saw Alan hurtling towards him, he had to catch him or else be crushed beneath him. Setting the unconscious Alan down carefully, Kaidan called over to Shepard. They conversed in a hushed, though worried tone. I only caught a few words. "...biotic... no amp?"

When they were done talking, Shepard walked over to me. "Alright. Wait here while I-"

"Commander!"

"Joker! That you?" Shepard looked instantly less perplexed at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Alive and kicking," came the reply. " Got an emergency call from Admiral Hackett for you."

Shepard walked over to a terminal. "Patch it through," he said.

As Shepard got the briefing from Hackett, I sat on a crate and tried to get my bearings. I had never punched someone across the room. Obviously, something had changed in transit here. But biotics? This was seeming more and more like a dream sequence worse than the Indoctrination Theory. At least the IT had a few believable points. I shook my head. Something wierd was going on.


	2. After Priority: Mars

Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I suffer from chronic writer's block. That, in addition to the fact that I work on a tablet, meant that updates, no matter what, may have huge time gaps between them. Thank goodness I won't be able to do most of the missions cause, well, I'm a civilian.

And yes, I just found out how to do anything even resembling A/Ns. I'm a frakking idiot

* * *

When Shepard and his team went down to deal with the situation on Mars, I had been forced up to the crew deck along with a recovered Alan, with Ashley making sure that nothing more happened. We had retrieved Alan's bag, and were looking inside.

"What the hell? Look at this mess! My laptop is shot! Not even good for a screen!" Alan shouted.

"Well, how's the Xbox? You have an Elite, right?" I said, attempting to placate him.

"So?"

"Elites were always built like tanks. Even with the RROD, they ended up lasting longer than the Slims."

He conceded. "That's true." He checked the condition of his Xbox. He grinned. "Hey, you think they have any 21st century plugs and video inputs onboard?" he asked, suddenly excited.

I smirked. "Probably not without an adapter." Seeing his expression, I added, "And before you ask, we will not spoil Mass Effect 3 for him. I know that that was your favorite part of the series, but the events of that game haven't happened yet. We can, however, show him ME1 and 2," I said with a grin.

Ashley just laughed at our eagerness. At least, that's what I think it was.

* * *

We were hunting through the mess hall for a plug when Shepard crashed in from the elevator. A very injured Kaidan was slung over Shepard's shoulder. Obviously, he had fallen victim to the android that was now hanging inert on James' shoulder. Seeing the scene unfold in the Med Bay in person made the new reality of my life seem even harsher. I shuddered to myself. Alan was frozen next to me, his face a mask of horror. As Ashley rushed in in order to help out, I turned to him, saying "Look, we knew something like this was gonna happen. Just push through it, Alan."

He shook his head, trying to clear it. "Sure, sure. Let's find that plug, shall we? Mass Effect is just about the only thing that'll distract me right now."

A half-hour later, we found an outlet underneath the mess hall table, along with an adapter for our old plugs. Since putting the Xbox underneath the table made no sense, I pulled the adapter out and handed it to Alan. Then we remembered. "Frak!" I cursed. "We still need a display!"

Alan grumbled something nearly-unintelligible about "...progressive motherfrakkers" before he said "We could ask Shepard where a spare screen is. Hopefully he'll tell us."

Just then, Shepard came around the corner. "Tell you what?" he asked. He was still in his armor, though he had taken off his helmet.

We were stunned that he would consider talking to us. We were really just kids compared to him. I spoke up. "Uh, we wanted to ask you, uh, where a spare screen would be. We wanted to set up some recreational stuff that Alan brought."

"Hmm. Well, it can't hurt to have a little something to blow off steam." He paused. "Ok. Help me set it up in the port observation deck. Goodness knows we have the space."

Alan beamed at the suggestion. I, however, was not so optimistic. "Wait. We might need to do some finagling with an omnitool to get the thing to display right. Even then, there's no guarantee that it will work. What would be best would be to get a really old TV or something that of that nature,"

Shepard nodded. "I'll see what I can find for you guys. Just make sure the setup is good. I'd hate for this to be a waste of money. And I'm only gonna spend 1000 credits on this max. I'd prefer to spend less than that, though."

I shrugged. "Eh. It's not like we need a particularly good display. Just something so that we can explain how we know so much stuff that we really shouldn't. By the way, how long until we dock?"

Shepard grimaced. "Not long. I should probably go take off my armor. I will want to see just how you know so much, but it'll have to wait until-"

"Until you meet with the Council. The ones who ignored your warnings about the Reapers. By the way, who is currently on the Council? Is it the same as it was two years ago, or did that one die?

Shepard gave me a look. "You're not from around here, are you? Of course it's the same Council as it was two years ago. What, you think the Alliance just left the Destinty Ascension go down with the Council aboard?"

I deflected his scrutiny. "I'll explain when we have our console set up. I'll be able to explain more easily with it up."

Shepard still looked suspicious. "If you say so," he said as he left to go to the armory to change.

*#*#*#*#*#

Shepard is a Spacer/War Hero vanguard. He saved the rachni and the Council, abandoned Ashley on Virmire, and lost nobody on the ME2 suicide mission. He's a Paragade in conversation, but he usually will take any interrupt, except for punching Khalisah bint Sinan Al-Jilani. He rewrote the heretics, along with doing every loyalty mission, and he blew the Collector base into scrap metal. Finally, he went through all of the DLC.

I'll put the ME3 import info into my bio, along with the face code, once I have actually gone through my hardcore vanguard in ME1 & 2. Yes, I know, I'm a frakking idiot. Most of this info is borrowed from my soldier playthrough that is my standard.


End file.
